Better Off Alone
by Smitty91
Summary: Sequel to "A Father's Love is Everlasting" After a stressful day and an argument with Simon, Alvin decides that it would be better if he simply ran away from home to stop any more heartache for his family and friends. However, Simon is feeling bad about the last thing that he said to Alvin and struggles to find his older brother and bring him home. Contains original characters.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Unbelievable," Simon grumbled as he stormed into the Seville household. "God!" He threw off his jacket onto the floor and kicked it away, only turning back to face his brothers and father when the oldest spoke.

"Look, Simon, I–"

The eldest of the Seville brothers was cut off in mid-sentence as Simon held up his hand to silence him. He didn't want to hear it. "Alvin, just . . . just don't even talk to me right now, all right? Just leave me alone." With that, he stormed up the stairs.

Alvin turned to glance at his youngest brother. "What's with him?"

Theodore groaned in annoyance, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. He thrust his jacket into Alvin's chest, having removed it as he'd entered the abode, and went up the stairs after his brother.

Alvin finally turned to glance up at his father. The man said nothing to him, but only turned and headed towards the kitchen to prepare their dinner. The oldest chipmunk let out a sigh. Once he'd placed his jacket on the coat rack, along with Simon's and Theodore's, he headed towards the living room, picking up the remote and switching on the television.

The house was relatively quiet throughout the rest of the afternoon. The only noise that could be heard was either the noise from the television or the noise of Dave cooking dinner in the kitchen. The mood that had fallen over the Seville household was quite gloomy, to say the least, and needless to say, Alvin didn't particularly like it.

"Guys, come on," Dave called. "Dinner."

Shutting off the television, Alvin approached the kitchen just as his brothers were coming down the stairs. Without a word to each other, they sat down and began eating. The atmosphere surrounding the table wasn't as cheerful as it usually was. Dave didn't even ask them how their day had gone. They each kept their eyes down, not so much as casting a glance at each other. Alvin was the first finished, wanting to get up and be excused as possible.

A hot shower would do him some good. Hopefully, it would relieve him of the saddened state his mind had been brought into. For the longest time, he simply stayed in the shower for a little longer than he was supposed to, allowing the hot water to hit his face. It felt good. It was relieving him off the stranglehold that his depression had taken over him and his body.

He was surprised about running into Simon as he exited the bathroom, clothed in his bedtime attire. He took a couple of steps back, lowering his hand that held his dirty clothes and his towel.

"Look," Simon said sternly, scowling, "until this whole thing blows over, I think it'd be best if . . . well, we all need a break from you."

Alvin frowned and he looked down at his feet. How was that supposed to make him feel any better? If Simon was trying to make him feel worse than he already did, then the bespectacled chipmunk was having a good amount of success. He finally looked back at Simon. "Don't worry. This whole thing will be blown over within the next couple of weeks."

Simon smirked. "For your sake, I hope you're right. I sure wouldn't want to be you right now. Mind yourself at school, when you get the chance to go back. You don't want to piss anyone off any more than you already have." His expression became serious. "You understand what I'm saying to you, don't you?"

Alvin nodded his head. "Yeah."

"Good." He patted Alvin's cheek. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, I have to use the bathroom."

"Sure." He stepped aside to let Simon enter the bathroom, then continued on his way towards their bedroom.

"Brittany–" Alvin greeted cheerfully.

"Don't talk to me," Brittany interrupted him, storming past him without a second glance at him.

Alvin watched her go before turning back to his brothers. "What's up her ass?"

Simon glared at him. "You, Alvin. Always. You." He sighed. "The principal would like to see you in her office–now!"

Alvin sighed himself, walking past his brother towards the principal's office. He knocked timidly on her door, peeking into her office. She motioned for him to enter and close the door behind him so that they could talk privately. He approached her desk and set his backpack down by her desk. "You wanted to see me?"

She nodded. "Yes. You have some work to catch up. You've fallen behind on your studies. You're behind by at least one semester."

He blinked. "But it's going to take me forever to get caught up. I'm not going to get the chance to graduate with my brothers or friends."

"That's not my problem."

"I didn't do anything wrong this time, okay?"

She sneered at him as she stood up to her full height. "A student is dead as a direct result of your bullying!"

He faltered and took a step back away from him.

"I don't care if it takes you the rest of the school year to get caught up on your classes," she went on in that same cold tone. "You deserve what you get for what you did to Erik Matthews. Maybe it'll give you some time to reflect how you should treat others. You will make up your work while in school suspension. You will be monitored at all times by a teacher. You will not be allowed to leave the classroom unless otherwise authorized by your teacher. Is that understood?"

Alvin nodded his head. "Yes, ma'am."

"You are to report to 11th Street Alternative School, room 369 at eight o' clock sharp. You may ride the bus there, bus number 2408. It leaves at seven thirty. If you prefer, you may have your parent or guardian drive you. Class is dismissed at three o' clock. You are expected to stay outside the main entrance where you can be seen. You will not leave the premises unless otherwise permitted to do so by a teacher or another supervisor. You are to remain on school grounds until the bus or your parent or guardian comes to pick you up. Is that clear?"

He nodded yet again. "Yes, ma'am."

"You will also be attending counseling sessions here at schools once you return. Your father has signed you up for anger management classes, as well as sensitivity training, at the local college. Your brother Theodore has suggested that you join a youth group at the local church to get in touch with your spiritual side. It was also suggested to me by one of the victim's friends that you and your family start attending church every Sunday from now."

He held up his hands. "May I interject here?"

She nodded. "Certainly."

"Isn't this a bit much? I mean, anger management classes? Bible study? Sensitivity training?"

She glared. "You did this to yourself, Mr. Seville."

"You are aware that my brother Simon is an atheist, right?"

"Yes, and he has voiced his concerns regarding Theodore's suggestions towards me. He doesn't seem to think that getting in touch with your spiritual side will do any good, but he is willing to allow you to practice it to see if any such good is produced. As a family, you will go to the abode of the victim's family and apologize to them, as well as give a public apology and speech about your actions were wrong to the school."

"Jesus, do I get a vote in this?"

"None whatsoever, Mr. Seville."

"And what about the others who participated in the bullying? What happens to them?"

"They have been thoroughly punished, just as you have been, not that that's any of your business."

Sighing, he removed his cap and wrung it in his hands. With his cap still in si hand, he ran his fingers through his hair, combing it back, his chest heaving in and out as he breathed heavily. He put his cap back on his head. He looked down as she pushed a contract towards him.

"Sign it." It wasn't a question. She set a pen down on the document and leaned back in her chair, folding her arms.

Groaning, Alvin picked up the contract and read over it carefully and thoroughly to make sure he fully understood what was expected of him. It basically listed all of the objectives that she had just rambled off and how he would abide by them and that he would not break any of the rules and regulations that had been set for him, that he understood that to do so would be going against the contract and that he understood that such actions had severe consequences. Considering all of the crap that he would have to put up with for the following months, not to mention the fact that he'd been out of school for a whole semester, he wasn't about to take his chances on going against the contract. Picking up the pen, he scribbled his name in cursive and then turned it around and pushed it towards her.

She picked it up and nodded her head accordingly upon discovering his signature. "Very good, Mr. Seville. Seeing as school has already started, you may be permitted to attend your regular classes. You will be escorted to and from each class by a teacher while here at the school and also while you are at 11th Street. Have a nice day."

"This is horse shit," Alvin ranted in his bedroom to his brothers. Despite the fact that neither one of them looked particularly interested, he continued to rant and rave. "This is inhumane! They can't do this! This is cruel and unusual punishment!"

Simon snorted. "You have no one to blame but yourself, Alvin. You knew what you were doing was wrong."

Alvin glared at him. "I was just having some fun, okay? Nothing wrong with that."

Simon gritted his teeth and glowered at his older brother. He hopped off his bed and approached his brother, causing the latter to take a few cautious steps back. "Just because you're popular doesn't give the right to look down on others as if they were meager peasants!" He folded his arms while he continued to glare at Alvin.

Alvin chuckled. "Oh, now you care? You know, it's funny how when you're dead, people start listening."

"I've always cared," Theodore said quietly, causing both brothers to look at him. He was just as affected by Erik's passing as the victim's family, being that he was one of Erik's best friends. He went back to doing his homework.

"I was busy the whole time," Simon replied, turning back to Alvin. "I had homework to worry about, projects to get done, clubs meetings to attend–"

Alvin snorted. "And yet you never took the time to help him."

If possible, Simon's expression hardened. "I shouldn't have had to protect him from the likes of you. You should have known better."

"He was nobody. He had nobody. No one cares about Erik Matthews."

Theodore was in Alvin's face in a flash, a furious look on his face. "I do," he said simply. The tone and tranquility with which he'd said these two words made his expression at the more terrifying. He hawked and spat in Alvin's face, the spittle landing between Alvin's eyes. Without another word to his older brother, he gathered his things and pulled on Simon's arm. The two of them left the room to finish their homework in the peaceful atmosphere of the kitchen.

Alvin's life didn't improve within the following weeks. If anything, he was miserable. As part of his contract, he had to do all of the activities that the principal had listed off. This included going to church every Sunday and hear the pastor drone on and on about matters that didn't apply to him, much less ones that he didn't care about. Like his younger brother Simon, he felt that religion was mainly for idiots who didn't want to think for themselves and for gullible people. Therefore, he found himself falling asleep quite often in church, only to be jerked out of his sound slumber by either Theodore smacking him in the head or Dave shaking him awake. Apparently to them, religion was serious business.

School wasn't any better, but at the very least it provided him with something to do other than being confined in a small room listening to someone ramble on and on about spiritual matters. Even still, he didn't care about school any more than he did religion. Oddly enough, the school day seemed to go by faster than a two-hour sermon, probably because he was keeping himself busy by doing schoolwork. As he had missed a semester of school, he had over nineteen hours of schoolwork to get through. Needless to say, he would be at 11th Street Alternative School for a good long while. To provide him with some light reading, Theodore had sneaked a Bible into Alvin's backpack when he wasn't looking. He had to chuckle at this. Light reading. Yeah, right. Sixty-six books that, when combined, were over seven hundred thousand words wasn't light reading at all. It at least provided him with something to do when he wasn't working on schoolwork. He'd attempted reading the other books that the school provided, but none of them piqued his interest. Interestingly enough, he found the Bible that Theodore had given him far more compelling when it came to reading than anything the school provided for him. When he considered this, he wondered if whether or not God was working on his heart. Or, probably more likely, he was so bored with reading that he'd read anything.

Probably the only thing was going over well for him was the anger management classes. He found himself getting less and less angry as the classes progressed, and anytime he did find himself getting pissed off, he found himself using the techniques he'd learned within the class to cool himself down. Because of this, his relationship with Simon seemed to be going a lot smoother to the point where they weren't arguing as much. Naturally, as a result of this, they were getting a long a lot more. They could finally be kept confined in a room for more than five minutes without anyone having to worry about them ripping each other's throats out.

Unfortunately, it shortly became too much for Alvin. The stress was getting to him as the days went by and he fount it hard finding someone to vent his frustrations to.

The oldest chipmunk barged into the Seville household in a huff, breathing heavily. He threw his backpack down on the table, causing Simon to cease from making his sandwich and look at him.

"What's with you?" Simon went back to making his sandwich, adding a thick layer of peanut butter to a naked piece of bread.

"This," Alvin growled. He dug around in his backpack until he pulled out a sheet of paper and showed it to him.

"Ah." Simon nodded his head in understanding. "Algebraic equations."

Alvin growled once again, slamming the piece of paper down on the table. "I am so sick of this."

"Like I've told you before, Alvin, you have no one to blame but yourself. Quite honestly, I'm getting sick of hearing you bitch and moan."

"I just think it's so unfair, that's all."

There was a loud clang as the knife abruptly hit the counter once Simon had dropped it down in an angry huff. He turned towards his brother, glaring. "Then why don't you just leave?! That would be best for everyone involved!" His glare remaining, he turned back to his sandwich. He was in such a fuss that he barely heard Alvin leave the room.

Hours later, Alvin lay in bed thinking over what Simon had said earlier. When he thought about it, he thought that maybe it would be best if he left. Even though the tragic event had happened several weeks ago, people were still pissed at him. His inbox for his email was flooded with messages from friends and family members of the victim, all of them saying how much they despised people like him. None of them spoke a kind word to him. Obviously, none of this helped to improve his mood or his attitude towards his new situation that he found himself in. Perhaps it would be best if he went out on his own. As Simon said, to do so would probably be in everyone's best interest.

With his mind made up, Alvin got out of bed and began packing his things. He cringed at every little squeak and creak, afraid that the excessive noise would wake up the other members of the household. Thankfully, the noise didn't do any such thing and he was able to successfully make it outside with his luggage without anyone catching him.

As he stood outside in the cool night air, a thought stroke him. He recalled what the principal had told him a few weeks ago: _ "As a family, you will go to the abode of the victim's family and apologize to them . . ." _He realized that he had yet to do this, as well as fulfill the other obligations that he was expected to fulfill. He figured that this task would probably be the easiest, and it would be a good way of leaving town and venturing out on his own. With that, he made his way down the porch steps and started down the sidewalk.

It had gotten colder by the time that Alvin had reached the victim's household. Lifting a shivering hand, he knocked on the front door and took a step or two back, waiting for the door to be answered. Honestly, he was quite nervous. He wasn't exactly sure how the family would react to seeing the person who had led one of their family members to suicide.

At long last, the front door was opened and there in the doorway stood two skunks and a raccoon. The two skunks were quite different. The bigger, taller one was an ordinary black and white skunk with brown eyes. The other skunk, who was being held in the bigger skunk's arms, was a white skunk with silver-gray markings and golden brown eyes. The raccoon standing beside them was brown with white fur from his muzzle to his belly and had black markings. A trail of black fur ran from his nose, down the center of his back, and to the base of his tail. Alvin took a step back to further examine them, but he didn't get a very good chance before one of the family members lunged at him.

"Look who it is," the white skunk cried, looking furious. Alvin wasn't too taken aback by the fact that she knew who he was. After all, his face had been shown all over the news when Erik's suicide had been broadcast on television, against the family's wishes. She leaped out of her mother's arms, turned around and laid her tail against her back, giving Alvin a clear view of her white butt. "I got a good mind to shove my butt in your face and fire away!"

"Marshmallow," the raccoon barked. He lifted her by the scruff of her neck. She glanced at him with her paws and legs bent. "No spraying."

The white skunk frowned, obviously disappointed. "No spraying?"

The raccoon shook his head. "No spraying."

The skunk folded her arms and pouted, and Alvin had to admit that she looked adorable. "Fine." She was set back down on the ground.

"Why don't you go to bed?" the bigger skunk suggested. "We'll handle this."

The little skunk sighed, but nonetheless walked down the hallway.

The raccoon glared at Alvin and folded his arms. "What do you want? Make it quick; I have a midterm to study for tomorrow!"

Alvin cringed at the tone and ferocity of the raccoon's voice, but he supposed he shouldn't have been too surprised by this. It made sense that they would be more than a little resentful towards him. He was actually surprised that they hadn't slammed the door in his face and told him to buzz off once they'd discovered who was on their doorstep. He swallowed hard. This was going to be harder than he thought. He attempted to provide them with a pleasant smile, but figured that he looked more like a serial killer than anything. His face fell and he attempted a serious look this time. This expression seemed to not bother them, so he addressed them directly. "Uh . . . is this a bad time?"

"It's ten o' clock at night," the skunk retorted. "What do you want?!"

He was about to answer her when he noticed a collection of boxes stacked in the living room. "What's with the boxes?"

"You," the raccoon said with a sneer. "Because of you, we're moving up north, back to our hometown: Vancouver, British Columbia."

"Oh." He coughed into his hand. "I just . . . uh . . . I just wanted to say that, uh, I'm . . . I'm sorry."

The raccoon gave the chipmunk a confused look. "You're sorry?"

"For the pain I've caused you," Alvin added.

The skunk snorted. "You think an apology is going to do anything?"

Alvin shook his head. "Honestly, no. I'm only doing this because I'm under obligation to do it. At the very least it's made me feel better."

"Ugh!" Both parties stepped back inside the house and the door was slammed in his face.

Alvin remained standing on the doorstep. He blinked. He strained his ears to see if he could hear anything that they were saying, to see if they were saying anything about him, but it was no use. They were more than likely aware of presence outside the door, so they were waiting for him to leave before they started talking. "I'm sorry," he whispered. He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry," he echoed a little louder. When he received no response, he sighed, turned around, and started walking down the sidewalk.

Alvin stared down at the debit card he held in his hands. He'd managed to swipe it from Dave's wallet back at the house before he'd went downstairs. Now as he stood before an active ATM, he wondered if maybe he should go through with his plan or simply try to make the money on his own. He supposed that he could borrow some money now and then find a job wherever he ended up going. That way, if by some chance Dave managed to find him, he could pay back the money he owed.

He'd seen Dave use his debit card so many times that he'd memorized the pin number. It was the date in which Dave had discovered him and his brothers on his doorstep, the day he had taken them in as his own. He had to stop momentarily and wipe some fresh tears from his eyes. The fact that his adoptive father had used the date as his pin number for his debit card was touching to him.

He withdrew at least five hundred dollars from the ATM, at least enough to buy him a plane ticket. The only question was, where would he go? He blamed the Matthews for the answer that he came up with, seeing as how they had planted the idea in his head to begin with. It didn't take him no longer than three seconds to come up with his destination: Vancouver, British Columbia.

He was surprised that there was still an active airport at this hour of the night. Once he had bought his plane ticket, he had his luggage scanned and loaded onto the plane that would take him to his destination. He sat in the lobby of the airport, waiting for his plane to be announced. He spotted a few other people within the lobby; he assumed that most of them were writers, boarding planes that would take them to their next destination on their book tour or their next interview and whatnot. He kept his eyes off them and only concentrated on the vending machines and the various workers within the airport.

In the back of his mind, he actually wished that Dave would barge into the lobby and come stop him from running off to Vancouver, but no such thing occurred. He was all alone. No one was going to come to talk him out of it. No one was going to come to stop him. Realizing this, he stood up and boarded his plane when it was announced


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Simon held his head in his hands, groaning to himself. What had he done? Did what he say to Alvin have anything to do with him running away? He hoped to Einstein that it didn't. Otherwise, he'd never be able to forgive himself. No matter how much he tried convincing himself, his words kept reverberating in his head repeatedly, like a record: _"Then why don't you just leave?! That would be best for everyone involved!" _No wonder he hadn't been able to get any sleep last night. His words, they haunted him, and they weren't going away anytime soon.

For a moment, he thought about maybe tracking down Alvin himself, but that would be too difficult, even for someone as intelligent as him. He would need help if he wanted to track down his brother. Surely he had the help of Theodore and Dave, but what about the others? The victim's family surely wouldn't help him, and Brittany and Alvin weren't exactly on speaking terms right now, so she certainly wouldn't lift a finger to help him either. Maybe once she cooled down, she'd rethink things.

The Sevilles had a good amount of neighbors that knew them quite well. Maybe they were willing to help him find his older brother. Just as it was with making a film, it would take a village to find Alvin. The eldest chipmunk could have easily been anywhere. They had no clues or leads as to where Alvin might have gone. They could always see if he was staying over at a friend's, but, to his credit, Alvin was more crafty than that. If he didn't plan on being found, he would have more than likely left the state and was probably living elsewhere. If he had had enough money, he could have easily transported himself clear across the country. He could have been living somewhere like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, or any one of the other original Virginia Colonies. The only question was, how they were going to find out where he was? That was the first task to be tackled. Once they found out where Alvin was, they could go about finding him and bringing him back home.

The only question that needed to be asked was, did Alvin even want to be rescued and brought back home? If he was hurt enough by Simon's words to run away, then Simon was willing to bet that he didn't. Even so, he reasoned that it wasn't just his words that had caused Alvin to run away. Over the past few weeks, Alvin had shown signs of being under stress by way of not eating and complaining about having trouble sleeping. Having to juggle all of the responsibilities that he was given would have left anyone easily stressed out. Perhaps the stress had grown too much for him and, in an effort to escape it, had decided to run away and live his life on his own. Simon just hoped that he would be able to survive on his own, at least long enough for his family to find him and take him back home.

At long last, Alvin stepped off the plane. He yawned to himself and rubbed his weary eyes. Grabbing his luggage and heading outside the airport, he was saddened to discover that he only had fifty dollars left on his person. It was at least more than enough to get himself something to eat and drink. It was nearly lunchtime anyway. A fast-food joint would do nicely, and even then, he'd have plenty of money left over for dinner and maybe even breakfast the following morning.

It was at this point that a question struck him: where was he going to sleep? He didn't have nearly enough money to rent a hotel room and once he spent some money to buy himself some lunch, he would have even less money. He didn't know anyone in Vancouver. The few people that he did know who lived in Vancouver probably wouldn't be due back home for another couple of days, maybe even more if they were driving. There wasn't a snowball's chance that they would let him live with them, especially after what he'd done to them and put them through.

He stood in the middle of the sidewalk, wondering what to do with himself. Perhaps he should have thought ahead a lot more before up and running away like he had. He hadn't stopped to think about where he was going to sleep. He supposed that any shelter would do, just as long as it protected him against the elements. A box would suffice, but it probably wouldn't be very comfortable.

His growling stomach distracted him. He supposed that right now the most important thing was getting something to eat. Maybe getting something in his stomach would enable him to think more clearly. The only problem was that he didn't know his way around Vancouver. A map would have been nice to have bought before boarding the plane. It was too late for that now. His best option would be to ask for instructions to the nearest restaurant, preferably one that wasn't too expensive and was a little more on the cheap side.

He temporarily thought about maybe just using a phone book and using it and the street signs as his map, but that would never do. While tearing out a few pages from a phone book wasn't illegal by any means, and the torn phone book would more than likely be replaced eventually, it was still a very poor way of getting around. He would have to go with the former of the two choices.

He politely stopped a passerby and, as politely as he could muster, requested directions to the nearest restaurant. The man pointed down the sidewalk to a nearby McDonald's. Upon seeing it, he blinked. How had he missed that? Nevertheless, he thanked the man for his assistance and crossed the street towards the restaurant.

He was grateful to have some actual food in front of him once he'd ordered his food. He hadn't bothered with the food on the plane; his experience with planes and food had left him with a very low appreciation for it. True, fast-food was nothing more than processed meat and therefore, wasn't any more healthy, but it at least had a better taste. The fries especially were very unhealthy, but he didn't care, just as long as he had something to ease his growling stomach.

He ate slowly and quietly, taking the time to see if easing away his hunger could improve his critical thinking skills or not. A thought came to him as he chewed another bite of his burger: why not go live in the nearest Walmart? It had all the necessities he would need for living: food, drinks, and a restroom for waste disposal. But what about showering, and how would he gain entrance into the department store without getting noticed? He would have to sneak in some way. As far as he knew, Walmart didn't have any windows that he could pry open. He would need to figure out some way to pry open one of the doors, preferably one that wasn't automatic. It would need to be a door that one had to open manually by way of either pushing or pulling. That would be the best option. He could easily transform a hair pin into a key to unlock the door. If Sarah Connors could do it, surely he could too.

He smiled to himself for coming up with such a foolproof plan. He could make a little fort out of toilet paper like Chuck Mangione had in that one episode of _King of the Hill_. It was perfect! He would have no reason to come out during the daytime; at nighttime, he could go about the store as he pleased, picking up whatever products he needed: food, drinks, books to read to keep himself occupied, among other things like balls to play with and toilet paper to clean up after himself.

That still left the question as to how he was going to get inside the store without being noticed. Sure, he'd figured out how he was going to actually get inside the store, but how was he going to do that without being noticed? He supposed that he could hide out in the air ducts, but not only would that be a hazard in regards to his health and safety, but it would be very uncomfortable cramped inside them while waiting for the employees to go home and for the manager to close down shop on the place until he could emerge from his hiding place unnoticed. He would need to come up with a plan, but, really, the only thing he could come up with was to hide in the back parking lot and wait for his chance to sneak inside the store. Again, this was a health hazard, thankfully more than it was a safety one. What if he got heatstroke? He would need some ice cold drinks in order to keep himself from getting dehydrated. He supposed that he could always go in the store, buy a few items, and use those to sustain himself until he was ready to sneak inside the store. But even then, if he hid in plain view, someone would suspect him of something and he wouldn't be able to sneak into the store at all that way. He would need a hiding spot that was inconspicuous.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he accidentally bit his hand, not realizing that he had finished his burger already. He looked down to notice that all of his food was gone. His drink was half-empty, so he could easily take it with him. Crumbling up the wrapper of his burger and crushing his container of his fries, he threw them in the trash, exiting the restaurant with his drink in hand and his backpack hoisted on his back.

It was at least a nice day for walking. The sun was out and brightly shining, creating a warm, loving atmosphere. It was hard to frown when one was feeling so good. He walked down the sidewalk, only to stop once again when he realized that he had no clue as to where the nearest Walmart was. Once again, he would need to ask for directions. He thought about maybe using a cab, but that would be too costly. He would have to walk.

Before he could take a step, he was suddenly grabbed from behind and forcibly dragged into the nearest alleyway. He couldn't move his arms and he quickly ceased kicking when he realized that he was only kicking at thin air. He struggled to see who his assailant was, but couldn't do so due to the fact that his attacker had him in a headlock. He presumed that there had to be more than one attacker, seeing as how his arms were pinned to his sides. "Let me go!"

His cries fell on deaf ears. It seemed as if his attackers feared that his cries would attract the attention of passersby, because the next thing he felt was someone clapping a hand over his mouth, muffling his screams. He chomped down on a good portion of skin on the palm, calling the boy who had him to cry out in pain and release him. He stumbled forward in an attempt to get away. He turned to get a good look at his assailants, just in case he decided to report them to the police. He realized that there were five of them. He put up his fists, willing to fight them if he had to in order to get out the situation alive.

He motioned for them to come at him. "Come on, lets' go! You want a piece of me? Huh?!" He snarled. He kicked the first attacker in the groin, but wasn't expecting a second one to come after him and he was socked in his abdomen, causing him to double over and grip his stomach in pain. If there were five of them, why were only two of them attacking him? Where were the only three? He didn't have long to ponder over this question because the next thing he felt was being hit upside the head with a blunt object. He collapsed to the ground, dazed. As his consciousness drifted away, he could hear the boys crying out in pain.

Simon breathed heavily as he knocked on the Millers' door. He took a step back as the door was answered and Eleanor grinned at him, but suddenly frowned upon seeing Simon's distraught face. Before she could ask what was wrong, he asked a question of his own: "Alvin ran away. He's not with you, is he?"

Eleanor shook her head. "No. I'll come help you look."

Simon looked past her shoulder and looked back at her. "Where are Jeanette and Brittany?"

"Jeanette's at the library and Brittany's at cheerleading practice. Where's Theodore?"

"He's with Dave. They're circling the neighborhood and then going to the park to look for Alvin."

"Miss Miller's taking a nap right now, but I don't think she'll mind me stepping out for a moment or two."

Simon gave her a grateful smile. 'Thank you." He took her hand as the two of them walked down the porch steps.

"Any luck?" Simon asked Dave on the phone.

Dave shook his head. "No. We'll circle the neighborhood one more time and then we'll go over to the park."

'Great. We'll meet you there." He set the phone down on the receiver and turned to Eleanor, who was giving him a worried look. "Let's go." He grabbed his jacket and slipped it on before leading her outside.

They walked down the sidewalk together.

"Any reason as to why he ran away?" Eleanor asked.

Simon shook his head. "Not a clue. I'm guessing he was fed up with all of the work he was doing. Maybe he just needed a break."

"I thought the church youth group was supposed to be teaching him how to handle his stress."

Simon snorted. "Like I told Theodore, that religious bullshit isn't going to do anything to help Alvin." As an afterthought he added, "No offense."

She nodded her head, her pigtails bobbing up and down. "None taken."

"He's been going to church and youth group services for over a week and he hasn't changed a bit. You would expect some spirituality would do some good for the boy." He shook his head, biting his bottom lip as if to contain his anger. "Alvin's stubborn, I'll give him that. I suppose Solomon was right when he said, 'Folly is bound up in the heart of a child.'"

"Mm," Eleanor agreed. "What he needs is discipline. That's what will do away with that nonsense."

Simon snorted again, his nostrils flaring. "Dave does that all of the time; it doesn't do a damn bit of good."

"Maybe if he were to get in trouble with the law, that would do some good."

"Maybe. Of course, the chances of that happening anyway are very high. Alvin is very impulsive, after all. If he gets caught stealing or committing some other form of a crime, some time in jail would do wonders for him."

She nodded her head. "It might. Which park are we going to?"

Simon racked his brain for only a moment before recalling the park that he and his brothers oftentimes went to when they were little. "Alma Park." He grabbed her hand. "Come on!"

Simon sighed and buried his face in his hands as he sat down next to Theodore. The younger of the two looked over at him and inquired, "You don't think he took a plane out of the state, do you?"

Simon looked up at him. "No, it's not possible." He reached forward to take a cookie from the pile that Theodore was holding, then pulled his hand back. 'Do you mind?"

Theodore shrugged. "Help yourself."

Simon gratefully took one, but didn't immediately take a bite, as he was suddenly lost in thought over Theodore's question. "It might be possible. Alvin isn't very intelligent, so I highly doubt he knows how to hack into someone's bank account via an ATM . . . unless he saw John Connor do it in _Terminator 2: Judgment Day_." He finally bit into the cookie, cringing at how sweet it was. He coughed. "Do you have anything to drink?" He was handed a forty-four-ounce cup of Mello Yello. He smiled and took a drink, a wide smile crawling across his face. "Mm! Tastes fresh!"

"The drink dispenser had just been refilled when I went to go get a drink," Theodore noted, happily taking another bite out of a cookie. "What makes you think that Alvin isn't very smart."

"Have you seen his grades? Guy's dumber than a bag of rocks. There's no way in hell he'd be able to figure out how to successfully steal money without getting caught and then buy a plane ticket to wherever the fuck he is right now."

"There's no need for language, Simon," Miss Miller said sternly as she joined the two with her girls and Dave.

Simon ignored her and turned his attention to Dave. "Well?"

Dave simply shook his head.

Simon muttered the word, "Shit," underneath his breath.

"Maybe he's living with a relative," Brittany suggested. "Surely you guys have other relatives besides Dave and his parents."

Simon nodded his head. "We do, but I don't think Alvin knows any of their addresses. He's not smart enough to know how to use the Internet to figure out where someone lives, much less basic arithmetic." He chuckled.

"Let's check the arcade," Dave suggested. "Maybe he'll be there."

"Or at Game Stop," Simon said. "Or FYE." He sighed as he and the others began walking back to their vehicles. He turned to Theodore." Have you talked to the Matthews since the unfortunate situation?"

Theodore shook his head. "Last I heard, they were headed back to their hometown. I think Colin's blocked me from his phone because I always get a busy signal whenever I try calling him. I get the same result whenever I try Marshmallow or Renee."

"Well, it makes sense," Simon reasoned, "considering the fact that you're related to the guy who drove their family member to suicide."

Theodore cringed at the reminder. "I'm sure Alvin didn't mean any harm."

Simon spat at the ground. "Who cares?! Words hurt, regardless whether or not the person's meaning any harm in saying them." He nodded towards his younger brother. "You remember how bad you felt when those jackasses in gym class kept calling you fat ass because you couldn't reach the bell?"

Once again, Theodore cringed visibly. "I do," he replied softly.

"Exactly! My point proven."

Theodore nodded his head, opening the car door and getting inside while Simon got in the passenger seat. Buckling their seat belts, they drove out of the park to head towards the arcade, and then maybe the mall if they had time.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Alvin awoke a few hours later in a hospital bed. He attempted to sit up, but quickly found this was a bad idea as his body was sore. He was gently pushed back down onto the bed by a gentle hand. He turned his head to see a young doctor standing beside him, a clipboard in his other hand.

"Just rest," the doctor advised. "With any luck, you should be able to leave here by tonight."

"Oh, great." Alvin was surprised by how hoarse his voice was. His throat was dry and it ached. He longed for something to drink. Even his tongue and the roof of his mouth felt dry. The doctor seemed to be able to read his thoughts because the man handed him a small cup of water. He drank it rather quickly, the cool beverage flooding his mouth and throat. He sighed in relief and set the empty cup on the bedside table.

He went back to sleep and was released from the hospital a few hours later. When he asked for his luggage, he was told that no luggage had arrived with him. This led him to believe that his assailants had taken everything on him, except for his clothes, thank goodness. He was thinking about this as he was walking down the sidewalk a few minutes later, only to stop as a sudden realization hit him. That meant that Dave's debit card was missing now! Oh, Dave was going to kill him! Sure, he could always get a new one, but that still meant that his bank account was currently at risk. The only thing that could be done was go ahead and cancel the debit card while there was still a chance and hopefully before any damage was done.

But how was Dave going to know that his debit card had been stolen? Alvin wasn't about to call him and report to him that he'd lost his only debit card. He supposed he could call the bank and let them know and have them tell Dave for him. That could work.

Doing so would have to wait, however, as Alvin's stomach gave a growl. He was reminded that he hadn't eaten anything since lunchtime. Unfortunately, he had no money whatsoever. He would need to find some other way of finding food, but he wasn't about to go digging through dumpsters. He wasn't a raccoon or a fox, after all. Then again, he wasn't planning on resorting to stealing either. What was he supposed to do?!

Reluctantly, he began wandering down an alleyway, fearful that he would be attacked again, doubly so since it was at nighttime and there was no chance of him surviving the attack this time since he couldn't see that well. He approached a nearby dumpster, but quickly hid upon hearing clattering bottles and cardboard boxes turning over. He peeked out of his hiding spot to see a little red–_female_, given the genitalia–fox walking towards the dumpster. He came out of his hiding spot and approached her. "You scared me for a second."

She turned towards him and sat on her haunches, silently watching him. Her creamy-colored tipped tail swayed from side to side.

"I'm really hungry," he said. "Do you have any food?"

The fox shook her head. "No, I don't." She turned and continued towards the dumpster. "But I bet there's something tasty in this dumpster. I just can't open it."

"Let me try." He spit on his hands and rubbed them together. He hopped up on top of the dumpster and attempted lifting the lid. When he was unable to do so, he gave her a nervous smile and attempted to do so again, only to have the lid come crashing down on his hands when he managed to get the lid lifted up a bit. He yanked his hands free, causing him to fall on his back.

She chuckled at him.

He got up and looked around, smiling when he discovered a shovel nearby. He grabbed it and carried it back over to the dumpster. "We'll try with this one." He pressed the blade of the shovel against the lid. "Hold it here," he instructed her.

She nodded and grabbed the handle of the shovel and pushed upward while he lifted the lid.

"Push harder," he directed.

She lifted the shovel a bit higher. He leaped down to the ground to her and helped her. The two of them succeeded in getting the lid open just enough to where the two of them could easily climb into the dumpster together.

"Great, man," she said. She smiled at him. "You're pretty sharp, huh?"

He blushed. "Here you go!"

She leaped into the dumpster and began digging around. She popped up with a banana peel on her head. "Cheese crusts! Cool!" She popped the pizza crust into her mouth, chewing it swiftly and swallowing. She held up a cut of meat. "And a piece of salami!" She disappeared and held up something green. "And look at this, man. A pear that's almost not rotten. That's more your style, right?" She dropped the pear to him.

The pear landed in his open hand and he sniffed, only to jerk his head back in reflex. "Ew! It stinks."

"Goddamn, you're picky," she noted. "What, do you think food grows on trees?" She giggled.

"It does. Is there any food that's not rotten anywhere?"

She nodded. "Yes, I know a place, but there's lots of wild cats. They'll kill us if they see us." She took the banana peel off her head and threw it aside, hopping out of the dumpster and landing in front of him.

He looked at her as she circled him. "Why?"

"Because foxes _eat _cats."

He blinked. "Do you do that too?"

She giggled. "Of course. I'm real tough, I tell you what." She made a few playful punches at him.

"How big are cats?"

"About as big as us, maybe a little bit bigger."

He snorted. "_I'm _not afraid of them. Let's go!"

"Well, I can show you the place, but if there are cats there, I'm not going in. Understood?"

He nodded.

"Let's go, then." With her in front of him, she led him down the sidewalk. Their destination was a few blocks away. Upon reaching it, they looked over a wall that led to the back door of a pastry restaurant. "Through that door, there's a restaurant. The guy who cleans the dishes throws out remains to the cats." She laughed. "He's totally nuts."

He frowned at her. "Cats look pretty peaceful to me." Before she could stop him, he hopped over the wall and approached the group of cats that were sitting peacefully in front of the door. "Hey, guys!"

One of the cats, a female, turned toward him. "Who are you?"

"My name is Alvin." He took a whiff. "Mmm! It sure is a nice smell coming from the kitchen, yeah?"

The other cats glared at him.

"I haven't seen you around here before," the female continued. "Are you new around here?"

He took a step back as she poked him in the chest with one of her claws. "Uh, yes. Yes, I'm new around here."

The female grabbed him by his sweater and pulled him close, pointing a claw at his throat. "We don't much care for newcomers trespassing onto our property." She threw him down to the ground. Along with the other cats, she began to approach him, sneering and bearing their sharp teeth and claws.

He grabbed onto the nearest window ledge and pulled himself up, climbing higher and higher via window ledge. He finally reached one of the more higher windows so that he was safely above the ground.

"Give him time," one of the male cats said. "Eventually, he'll grow tired of having to hold onto that ledge and when he falls, we'll tear him limb from limb."

Alvin looked up and noticed an open window above him. He reached up and grabbed onto the ledge, peeking over to make sure that the coast was clear. He sighed in relief upon seeing no one within sight and climbed into the room, noticing a buffet of delicious sweets along the table that he was standing on. He smiled to himself in glee. He grabbed a handful of the whipped cream topping of the chocolate cake in front of him and took a lick, only for his smile to widen as the sweet topping filled him with a warm sensation. He walked over to the ledge of the window and continued to lick at the whipped topping while he looked down at the cats below. He could still see the female fox watching him and the others over the wall. "Mm! I tell you what, this is yummy! You want a taste?" He winked at the female fox.

One of the male cats looked over his shoulder, only to see nothing there. He looked back up at Alvin and snarled.

"Here, eat up," Alvin suggested. He reared back his hand and fired the whipped topping at the cat's face. He laughed gleefully and went back in the room to grab two armfuls of the stuff, only to suddenly stop and look behind him when he noticed the clean-up guy was behind him. He chuckled nervously and leaped, grabbing onto the window as the man raised his wooden spoon. He cried out in pain as his hands were roughly smacked with the wooden spoon until he finally fell. He watched as the cats licked their lips, apparently contemplating eating him as soon as he hit the ground.

When he did hit the ground, he was scooped up by the female fox, who was pushing a skateboard. She pushed. "Come and get us . . ., pests," he called after them.

They didn't stop until the two of them were a good few blocks away from the group of cats, once again safe.

"We beat them," Alvin cried triumphantly. "Ya-hoo!"

Meanwhile, the fox was lying on her back, panting, attempting to catch her breath. She rolled over onto her stomach and pushed herself up into a sitting position. "You're insane," she cried, still panting.

He frowned at her. "But we're good, right?"

She sneered. "We might as well have been killed, both of us, just because you're a picky braggart!"

"Oh, come on."

She wasn't done. "If you didn't have to get fancy restaurant food, nothing would have happened!"

"But we got through it all right," he noted.

She got in his face and snarled, "Oh, did we?!" She spit in his face and turned away from him. "Have a nice day." She began walking off.

He watched her walk off. "Hey! Wait!"

She stopped near the hole in the fence that she was preparing to go through. She turned back to him. "What is it?"

"Well, it's just . . . do you know a good hiding place?" He approached her. "Since I'm new in this city and all . . ."

She nodded. "Yes, I do. Just say it."

He blinked. "What?"

She walked over to him and began poking him in the chest with her paw, smiling. "You're begging to come home with me, aren't you? So say it!"

He nodded. "Okay."

"Okay, what? So say it, you selfish . . ." She spat at the ground and then turned and walked off once more.

"I want to go home with you."

She stopped and turned her head to look at him. She smiled. "All right." She walked over to him and licked his cheek. "My name's Rita, by the way."

"Where have you been?!" the male fox inquired as soon as Rita and Alvin walked through the front door. He eyed the chipmunk by her. "Who's this guy?"

"This is Alvin, Tom," Rita replied.

Alvin wiggled his fingers at the fox identified as Tom. "Hi."

Rita turned back to Tom. "Can he stay here, please?"

Tom shook his head. "We don't have any more room in this house." He pointed at the front door. "Goodbye. Get lost!"

Rita frowned. "But, Tom, Alvin has nowhere else to go. He's new to the city and . . ."

Tom sighed. "Oh, all right. I suppose you can sleep on the couch." He turned towards Rita. "Are you hungry? We saved you some dinner."

Alvin gave him an odd look. "We?" Seeing something out of the corner of his eye, he turned to see a brown bunny approaching them.

The bunny had dark brown ears, paws, feet, and a little patch of dark brown fur surrounding his nose. Like all three of them, he also had baby blue eyes. Like Tom and Rita, he had cream-colored fur from his chest to his tail, which was two-toned: it was cream-colored on one side and dark brown on the other. He had a pink nose and, like most bunnies, cute little buckteeth. He jointed Tom at his side and smiled when the red fox put his arm around him.

"We," Tom said. "This is Nathan, my boyfriend."

Alvin smiled at Nathan and the two exchanged a handshake.

"So,w hat are we having?" Rita asked.

"Fried rice and steak," Tom told her.

"Yes!" She dashed into the kitchen.

Tom chuckled and turned back to Alvin. "What about you? Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I could eat," Alvin said.

"Then you'd better get in there and get a plate before Rita eats what's left of it." He walked with his lover over to the couch. They sat down and began watching a movie together, snuggling close.

Watching the two of them, Alvin couldn't help but smile. He walked in the kitchen and Rita directed him as to where everything was. Before long, the two of them were sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner together. She got a beer and he got a glass of soda. She'd offered him a beer and he'd outright declined, opting for some nonalcoholic instead. Oddly enough, she didn't object to it.

Their conversation consisted mainly of him. When it came to his identification, he thought up of a name that he'd come across in the Book of Genesis and used it as his name: Zaphnath-paaneah. She blinked and asked him what the hell the name meant. He explained that the name was Egyptian and meant, "The God speaks and He lives." His parents had chosen it just because it sounded cool. Though, he had to agree with her that it desperately needed to be changed because it was so hard to pronounce. Seeing as how he was in need of a new identity anyway, he didn't see the harm in coming up with another name for himself. Tom agreed to take him an ID card when he had the chance.

After they were done with dinner, Alvin and Rita retired to bed, leaving Nathan and Tom to their movie.

"I guess I'll just sleep on the floor," he said.

"No, you won't," she argued. "You're going to sleep with me on my bed."

"Are you sure Tom would be okay with that?"

"He and Nathan get semen all over the bed sheets and they have to washed at least once a week. I highly doubt that he's going to mind you sleeping with me."

"Uh, just so we're clear, the sheets are clean, right?"

"Yes. Tom just washed them today."

He sighed in relief and began stripping down to his boxers. Something was thrown at him. He removed it from his face and looked at it.

"A nightshirt," she told him. She was putting on her own bedtime shirt as well. She walked over to her side of the bed and climbed in, watching him as he got dressed and got in on his side of the bed. "Comfortable?"

"Very."

She looked pleased. "Wonderful."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Alvin supposed that the best course of action for him to take would be for him to find a job and then proceed to make enough money to get him out of Tom's fur as soon as possible. Though the fox didn't say it, he suspected that Tom wasn't too happy about his presence. To Alvin, it seemed as if he was coming off as more annoying than helpful. He supposed that he shouldn't have been surprised by Tom's reaction to him living with them. The fox was used to simply being with his lover and having his younger sister out of his fur since she mainly kept to herself. Having someone else around who didn't exactly understanding the meaning behind "personal space" would have annoyed anybody.

Over the weekend, Tom kept up with his promise. He got Alvin an ID card. Most of the information on the card was false. For example, Alvin had put his age as twenty-three. Thankfully, Tom didn't ask about whether or not the age he'd put down for himself was real, even though the chipmunk didn't look like he was a day over fifteen years old. Tom must have just assumed that Alvin was short for his age. Lots of people were.

"Do you know of any places that are hiring?" Alvin asked on the drive back home.

"I think there's a bar called The Village Idiot that's hiring," Tom remarked. He looked over at Alvin. "Have you ever worked in a bar before?"

Alvin shook his head. "No. What's it like?"

"Oh, it's great. You'll love it. Nathan and me and a group of women I know work at the same."

"Really? Are you guys hiring right now?"

"No, but I'll let you know when we are. Feel free to drop on by anytime. The bar's open from nine o' clock PM to five o' clock AM. The same goes for The Village Idiot. You've probably never done the night shift before, have you?"

"No."

"I thought so. You don't look like you've worked a day in your life."

"Well, I did have a summer job, but my boss kept getting my name wrong." He cringed at the memory.

Tom chuckled. "This is real work, not that kiddie work that summer jobs make kids do. You have to fast, quick on your toes. We can't afford to have slackers behind the bar. People want drinks and they want them fast. If you work for me, you work hard. No lolly-gagging around. Got it?"

Alvin nodded. "I got you."

Tom smiled and patted Alvin's hand. "Good."

Alvin had to take a step back and examine the sign outside the bar once again to make sure that he'd read it correctly. Yep. He'd read it correctly, all right. The sign read, "Shameless sluts wanted. NO experience necessary." He checked his watch to make sure he was at the right time. It was only a quarter after nine, so the bar hadn't been open for very long at all. Therefore, he wasn't too surprised to find that there were very few patrons within the bar when he walked in. But this couldn't possibly be the place that Tom and the others worked at, right? Surely it couldn't be.

For one thing, there were potholes in the floor of the bar deep enough to trip a horse. There was no drainage system, so the bartenders were to wading through shin-deep beer. No, this couldn't be the place. Based on the observations he'd made concerning Tom, Nathan, and Rita, they sure as hell wouldn't be caught dead in a pigsty like this.

"Can I help you?" one of the bartenders asked.

"I'm looking for Tom Landow," Alvin told him.

"You're at the wrong bar. Try the Coyote Ugly Saloon down the street."

Alvin nodded his head. "Thanks."

Just as the bartender had said, the Coyote Ugly Saloon was right down the street, and, damn, did it make the Village Idiot look like the Russian Tea Room. There were no potholes in the floor and there wasn't shin-deep beer either. The bar seemed to be extremely popular given how many patrons were inside, even though the bar itself had only been open for twenty minutes. With business this good, it was a wonder why they hadn't driven the Village Idiot out of business.

"Can I help you with something?" a blond-haired woman asked, suddenly appearing in front of Alvin. She gave him a stern look and folded her arms. "Listen, I don't have time for solicitors. You either order something or get out!"

Alvin swallowed. "Somebody told me that you guys might be hiring. I'm new in the city and I'm looking for a job."

She bit her lip. "Have you ever been a bartender?"

He shook his head. "No."

She extended a open hand. "Let me see your ID."

He retrieved his ID from the pocket of his sweater and handed it over to her. She glanced at for a moment or two, then looked back up at him. She did this a couple of times more until she finally handed the ID card back to him. "Funny. You don't look like you're twenty-three."

He shrugged. "I'm short for my age."

"Let's see how you do tonight. If you even do half a decent job, you're hired."

"Seriously?"

"Do I look like I'm bluffing?"

"No."

"Great. Now, let's go over a few rules. Rule number one: If anyone ever comes into this place and asks for a mud slide, a zombie or a grasshopper, go ahead and make the drink. Then charge the guy fifteen bucks for it. Then take him outside and beat the shit out of him, because this is not that kind of bar. Got it?"

"Okay."

"Rule number two: don't bring your boyfriend or girlfriend into my bar." She suddenly grabbed at him and tore off his sweater, then led him in the backroom and threw a sleeveless shirt over him. "Rule number three: If you're going to work in my bar, you have to look the part. Now," she grabbed his shoulders and turned him around, "get to it."

He went behind the bar and saw that Nathan and Tom were already working, along with six other women. Most of them were already filling orders or taking them. He turned his head towards the entrance when he spotted something red and cream-colored enter the bar. He took a few steps forward and watched as Rita entered the bar and sat down at one of the empty stools. "What can I get for you?"

She blinked. "When did you start working here?"

"Just now. Well, nothing's official yet. I suppose you could call this my audition."

"Hmm. Give me a scotch. Leave the bottle."

He turned his head to look at the rows of alcoholic beverages and glasses behind him. He looked over at her. "Any particular brand?"

She shook her head. "Any brand will do." She handed him five dollars.

"Move it," a redheaded woman snapped, pushing Alvin back out of her way. "I'm trying to work here."

"Sorry," Alvin said softly. He grabbed a bottle of scotch and a shot glass and set them both in front of Rita.

She gratefully took the items and poured herself a shot of scotch. "Thanks." She reared back her head and downed the entire shot in one gulp. She sighed in bliss and poured herself another shot.

Work at the Coyote Ugly Saloon was very fast-paced; it was so fast-paced, in fact, that oftentimes, Alvin had a hard time staying on top of things. He tried his best, knowing that the blond-haired woman was watching him closely. He had yet to find out what her name was. He figured that could wait, as right now he had orders to fill. They weren't going to fill themselves. It was while he was waiting for another customer that the blond-haired woman approached him.

"Good job, kid," she said, handing him a fifty dollar bill. "Now get out of here."

He blinked. "Wait. You're firing me?"

"I told you, this was an audition. Leave–now!" She pointed to the entrance.

He sighed and began heading towards the entrance when he noticed two customers arguing nearby. He approached them, getting in between them. "Okay, guys, look." He separated them. "The way I see it, you have two choices. You can either beat the crap out of each other and end up the hospital. Or," he brought the fifty dollars up to their level, "you can take this fifty dollars and buy one of these fine ladies," he gestured towards the female customers, " a drink. What do you say?"

Both men looked at each other, shrugged, and took the money before walking off.

Sighing again, he started towards the entrance.

"Hold on, chipmunk!"

He was grabbed by the arm and turned so that he was facing the blond-haired woman again. "What?"

"I'll make a deal with you. You see, we're behind on our payment. If you can get me two hundred fifty dollars before closing time, I'll hire you."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Okay. I'll try to come up with something." He looked around the room and spotted Rita still at the bar, downing shot after shot of scotch. He approached her. "Get up on the bar."

She looked over at him. "What?"

"Just do it."

She sighed and did as she was told.

He grabbed the megaphone and spoke into. "Testing. One, two, three. Testing." Once he was sure the megaphone was working, he spoke into it. "Okay, ladies and gentlemen! Step right up and place your bets!" He ran a hand over Rita's thigh. "We have a gorgeous little red fox up here tonight. Let's start the bidding at five dollars. Do I hear five dollars? Five dollars, folks! Do I hear five dollars?!"

"Ten," one guy shouted, raising his hand.

Alvin pointed at him. "I got ten! Can anybody top that! Come on, folks, don't be shy! Come on, now! Who's going to top that? Do I hear fifteen dollars?!" Quickly learning that this was getting him nowhere, he whispered to Rita, "Turn around. Walk just a bit, and maybe take off your shirt. You're going to go high if you do."

Rita shrugged and drew the loose shirt off, playing to the lights by tossing it over one shoulder and turning one way, then the other, letting her thick tail with its creamy tip gleam in the light. Her tail circled first her ankles, then she playfully wrap it around the chipmunk's neck as she passed. A giggle swept through the crowd, and someone shouted, "Twenty!"

The bidding kept going and going. The chipmunk decreased the bidding increments to ten dollars at a time and slowly the number of participants started to decrease until, finally, only two were still appearing.

"Boy, these two really want to spend some time with Rita here," Alvin commented to the crowd.

Someone shouted, "Two hundred dollars!"

"All right," Alvin called. "I have two hundred dollars! Let's hear two hundred twenty-five!"

"Two hundred fifty," came the reply.

A dead silence followed the bid, and even Rita blinked.

"Four hundred dollars! Anyone going to top that?" He waited. "Going once!"

Nothing.

"Twice!"

Again, silence.

"And sold for two hundred fifty dollars! Congratulations!"

The woman came forward and handed the blond-haired woman the money before picking Rita up and carrying her off.

"Have fun," Alvin called after them, waving at Rita, who flipped him the bird. He turned around when he felt someone poking him on the shoulder. It was the blond-haired woman.

"Congratulations, chipmunk," she said. "You're hired." She smiled.

"Great. Thanks, Ms., uh . . ."

"Call me Lily, Lil for short."

"Thanks."

She suddenly frowned. "What the hell are you doing standing around here for? Get back to work!"

He saluted her. "Yes, ma'am!" He went back to serving customers. As he worked, he began to notice a pattern regarding the music that was played throughout the bar via the jukebox. Either the songs were by Hank Williams or the songs that were played were about Hank Williams. Thankfully, he quickly learned how to tune out the horrid music by concentrating on the customers and the drinks that he was serving.

By five o' clock AM, all of the customers either left or were passed out drunk on the floor lying on a puddle of their own vomit.

"So," Tom said to Alvin as he wiped down the bar, "how was your first night as a bartender?"

"Ugh," Alvin groaned, slumping into a chair. "Boy, am I beat."

Tom smiled. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it. The good thing is you get to go home and sleep. You have the day all to yourself. You can do whatever you want."

Alvin nodded his head in agreement. "True. I like the sound of that." He looked around and noitced that Rita wasn't back yet. "Hey, shouldn't we go look for your sister? She's been gone for the past eight hours."

Tom batted the question away by limping his paw. "Oh, don't worry about her. I'm sure she's fine. She'll be back, I'm sure of it."

"You're not worried at all that something bad might happen to her?"

"Nah. She'll be okay. I know the person who bought her. Real nice lady. Relax. She's in good hands."

"Okay, if you say so. So, what's on the agenda for after we get up at one o' clock?"

Tom thought for a moment. "Well, if you want, we could go clothes shopping. I imagine that you didn't pack very many clothes. Besides, you're going to need a new wardrobe if you're going to be working at this bar."

"I hear you, Tom. What would you have in mind?"

Tom tapped his chin. "Hmm. I'd say something to give you more sex appeal. That sleeveless shirt is working out for you. Speaking of which, take it off so I can get a good look at you." Once Alvin had done so, he nodded in approval. "Yeah. You have one nice physique. I think you're going to do well here at the Coyote Ugly Saloon."

"I think so too."

Over the next couple of weeks, Alvin got to know the women of the Coyote Ugly Saloon.

Liliana Lovell was Alvin's boss. She owned the Coyote Ugly Saloon. She was short, cute, and tough. She had the body of a figure skater and the voice of a lifetime smoker. She was a legend in the neighborhood. She got her training down a few blocks at the bar called the Village Idiot, where she mastered her trade. She worked hard over at the Village Idiot. She saved up her tips, one greasy dollar bill at a time, and bought the Coyote Ugly Saloon. She opened her business right down the block from the Village Idiot. She was just 25 years old, two years older than Alvin supposedly was, when she hired him to work in her bar.

Lil could drink with her customers until they were all blind, and then she'd make men suck tequila from her boots–and sometimes, from her socks–while maintaining complete control. She was always in charge. Men loved her, but their love was tempered with a healthy touch of fear.

Of course, Alvin wasn't the best-looking worker at the Coyote Ugly Saloon. That honor went to Caroline. He was partial to her because she had been so nice to him when he began working at the Coyote Ugly Saloon. She was very pretty and also very funny. He was curious as to how she managed to get a job as a bartender. Instead of answering him, she simply cupped her breasts and replied, "These."

Alvin gave her a dubious look. "They don't seem that exceptional."

Once again, instead of answering him, she unzipped her sweatshirt and showed him her breasts.

"Oh,' he replied in awe.

Still, some regulars would have insisted that the prettiest bartender at the Coyote Ugly Saloon was Chris, who had sassy short hair like a boy's and a heart-stopping midriff. Of course, there was also Jackie to consider. Jackie was very pretty. Jackie was also famous for tossing shots of rum into her mouth, holding a lighter to her lips and blowing ten-foot bursts of flame across the room. There was definitely a cult of Jackie. Molly was pretty in a way that attracted the downtown crowd, and Dawn was pretty in the way that bikers like. And as for Jessie? Jessie was so goddamn pretty that it barely counted.

They each had their own way of working. If someone had come into the Coyote Ugly Saloon when Alvin was working and asked him for a martini, he would have poured them a shot of Jack Daniel's, and he would have said, "That's how we make martinis in this place, pal." If someone had come into the Coyote Ugly Saloon when Caroline was working and asked her for a rusty nail, she might have climbed on top of the bar and poured the Jack Daniel's down their throat for them.

Now if someone had come into the Coyote Ugly Saloon when Lil was working and asked for, say, a glass of water, they would have really been in trouble. She would turn off the jukebox immediately. She would climb on top of the bar and shout to the crowd, "Do we drink water in this goddamn bar?" The crowd would have booed and laughed. Then, she would pour some Jack Daniel's down the throats of all the patron's friends. Then, she would pour some Jack Daniel's down her own throat, and would have charged the patron for buying her a drink.

One of the many regulars who fell in love with Jessie dated her a few times. She broke it off quickly, but he would still come into the Coyote Ugly Saloon every night, just to talk about her.

"Jessie was so beautiful," he would slur to some single woman drinking alone at the bar, "but she left me. She said I disgusted her. She told me she was repulsed by my touch."  
After a few weeks of this, Alvin finally said, "Listen, you really need to work on a better pickup line. You really want to stop spreading that story around."  
Alvin gave a lot of good counsel at the Coyote Ugly Saloon. He certainly gave a lot of advice to men who'd fallen in love with their bartenders. It was a perennial problem. It was, after all, pretty much the whole point of the place.  
Over the weeks, Alvin became better accustomed to the rigorous pace of the Coyote Ugly Saloon to where he was functioning much more efficiently than when he'd started. He'd become familiar with all of the brands that the bar had to offer and was just as good at serving the patrons as the more experienced ones. Of course, Rita was one of the regulars, one of the bar's best customers. She was there practically every night. All of the bartenders and patrons knew her by name and knew exactly what to fix her, so her drink would be waiting for her as soon as she sat down at the bar. She and Lil would get into competitions to see which one could drink more than the other. It was always close, but Lil always came out on top. When Alvin expressed concerns regarding her heavy drinking, Rita claimed that she got her alcoholism from her father. Alvin had heard that abused children had a higher risk of abusing alcohol, but decided not to press the matter, not wanting to press the matter.

"Maybe we could try his phone number," Brittany suggested to Dave.

"I doubt that's going to work," Simon told her. "He more than likely didn't take his phone with him if it meant that it would risk him being found."

Jeanette nodded her head in agreement. "Exactly. His phone is probably upstairs in the bedroom somewhere."

Brittany sighed dejectedly.

"Don't worry," Simon reassured her, patting her hand. "We'll find him and bring him back home." He shook his head. "I just wish I knew where he was."

"You don't think he tagged along with the Matthews and went to Vancouver, do you?" Theodore suspected.

"No, they would have told us immediately," Dave replied. "Besides, I don't think they'd want Alvin tagging along with them after what he did to them."

"Did he ever even apologize for that?" Eleanor inquired.

The others shrugged their shoulders, unsure.

"The only thing we can do is pray and hope that God opens up his heart and helps him realize that running away was a mistake," Theodore said.

Simon snorted. "Prayer is not going to do anything but waste our time. We need to expand our search, alert the media and get others searching. We can start locally and expand nationwide, if need be."

"He may not even be in the U.S. anymore," Jeanette reasoned. "Maybe he boarded a plane to another country. He could be halfway across the world for all we know."

"Would it hurt to at least try calling him?" Brittany asked.

Simon shrugged his shoulders. "It's worth a shot, I suppose."

"Great." She pulled out her phone and dialed Alvin's number, only to hang up after a few minutes of waiting. She let out a depressed sigh. "No answer."

"Figures," Simon remarked.

Dave looked over at the clock. "It's already half past midnight. It's far too late to do anything right now. Why don't we all go to bed and pick this up in the morning?" He nodded towards the Chipettes. "Girls, why don't you go home? Miss Miller is probably worried sick about you."

"Right," Jeanette agreed. "Come on." She led her sisters out the front door.

"You two should get some rest too," Dave advised. "I'll continue the search tomorrow while you two are at school."

"Speaking of which," Theodore said, "Alvin's going to have a lot of homework to do when he gets home if he wants to catch up and move on to the next grade."

Simon shook his head. "He's already behind as it is. Most likely they'll put him in summer school to let him catch up on the work he's missed."

"I wonder if he's thinking about us right now . . ." Theodore said as he and Simon headed up the stairs.

"I wouldn't count on it."

"What do you think?" Tom asked Alvin as they stepped into the apartment.

Alvin examined the apartment for a moment or two before nodding his approval. "I like it. It's small yet spacious." He gave Tom a worried look. "You guys will help me out with bills and all that junk, right?"

Tom smiled. "Of course, at least until you find your footing and can provide for yourself. We'll go shopping later this week so that you have something to eat. In the meantime, you're welcome to come over and eat with us if you'd like. We're having macaroni and tomatoes tonight."

"Mm, sounds great. Count me in. I'm just glad this apartment came fully furnished so I don't have to spend any money on furniture."

"Yeah." He led Alvin out of the apartment, locking the door before they went back to the parking lot to Tom's car.

"Do you think Rita would like to stay with me? I think she likes me."

Tom backed out of the parking spot and started driving down the street. "Yeah, she does seem to like you. You two have really hit it off. I'm surprised. She really doesn't like anyone and prefers to be by herself most of the time. I don't know what you've done to turn her perspective around, but keep doing what you're doing, please."

"She said she drinks a lot because of her father."

"Yeah, we didn't exactly have a glamorous childhood, but I won't go into detail. I don't want to bore you."

"It's really none of my business anyway."

"You're right. It isn't. Anyway, we should get to the bar, get ready for work."

The Coyote Ugly Saloon was already rowdy by the time that Alvin and Tom arrived. Jackie was busy blowing flames across the room, illuminating the entire bar for only a moment or two before the fire died down. Lil was busy having a drinking contest with Rita while Caroline was strutting up and down the bar, showing off her impressive breasts. The atmosphere within the bar was anything but peaceful, and that was the way Alvin liked it.

Caroline got off the bar and Jackie poured rum down the entire length of it before lighting it on fire! Alvin noticed that this kept the patrons from advancing towards the bar when they were in a riot. Still, the spectacle of seeing someone light a bar on fire was quite thrilling. If anything, it helped combat the coldness of the weather outside. Vancouver wasn't exactly known for its warm weather, after all.

Tom and Alvin set to work, filling orders and fooling around with their gal pals. As usual, Hank Williams' voice blared throughout the bar. The others were able to tune him out thanks to the patrons and their coworkers. It was a fun place to work, where Alvin and the others could just cut loose and do anything they wanted, the law permitting it, of course.

"Hey," Alvin greeted a portly man. "What can I get for you?"

"I'll take water," the man replied.

Alvin snickered and told Tom, "This guy just ordered water."

"You know what to do," Tom told him, nodding his head.

Alvin grabbed the megaphone and spoke into. "Testing. One, two, three. Testing. Uh, hey, this guy just ordered water. Do we serve water in this goddamned bar?!"

"Hell, no! H2O! Hell, no! H2O!" the crowd chanted.

Alvin grinned. He set down the megaphone, grabbed the nearest water hose, and began spraying the man with it.

"Uh, hey, Lil," Jessie said, nodding towards Alvin.

"Calvin, no," Lil cried. She took the water hose from Alvin and set it down. "He's the fire marshal. He can order whatever he wants." She grabbed a few paper towels and began drying the fire marshal off. "Ralph, I'm so sorry about this. He's new. He didn't know any better."

The man identified as Ralph simply shook his head. "Don't worry about it, doll."

Alvin buried his face in his hands. _I am such an idiot, _he thought. Once the matter had been settled and Ralph had been served his drink, he followed Lil back over to where she'd been before. "You're not going to fire me, are you?"

Lil turned to him and shook her head. "Hell, no! We're all allowed to make mistakes every now and then. Besides," she ruffled his hair, "you're way too damn cute to make me want to fire you. If I fired everybody for making just one tiny mistake, I'd be out of business. Now, go on. Get back to work."

Alvin nodded his head. "Right." He went back over to Tom and glared at him.

"Hey, I'm in the same boat as you," Tom said. "I didn't know he was the fire marshal."

"And how long have you been working here?" Alvin inquired.

Tom shrugged. "Eh, a few months."

"And he's never come in here, not once, since you've been working here."

"He's the fire marshal. What do you think?"

Alvin sighed and addressed another patron and filled their order accordingly. When he wasn't filling an order, he watched a group of men playing pool on the east side of the bar.

An affluent-looking young man in a suit and tie remarked, "Women shouldn't be allowed to play pool. They'd just get in the way of us men." He bent down to line up his shot.

The music was suddenly shut off and a dead silence filled the bar as Lil approached him. She crossed her arms and raised a brow at him. "Excuse me? Would you mind repeating that?"

"What are you, deaf?" the man questioned. "I said that you women shouldn't be allowed to play pool since you'd just get in the way of us men."

"Is that a fact?" Lil asked. "Tell you what: I challenge you and your friends to a game of pool. Loser buys the winner a drink."

The man and his friends nodded their heads in agreement.

"Rack 'em up, boys," Lil stated.

The attention of every person in the bar was centered on the game of pool that ensued. Alvin was impressed to discover that Lil was quite an exceptional pool player, not beating the man and his friends twice in a row, but _three _times in a row! She gave the man a satisfied smirk and asked, "What was that about us women not being allowed to play pool?"

The man scoffed. "You're winning only because we've been drinking and you haven't."

Alvin cringed at this remark, realizing that the man had made a mistake.

Lil put a hand on her hip, the other one holding her cue stick. "How many rounds of drinks have you had?" she asked.

When the man admitted that he and his friends hadn't been drinking at all, Lil responded by grabbing the man, dragging him across the bar to the front entrance, and literally throwing him out, along with his friends, telling them that they weren't allowed in her bar again if they were just going to solicit.

"I didn't know she could do that," Alvin said in awe at Jackie. "Did you know that she could do that?"

"Calvin, honey, you will find that there's more to Lil than meets the eye," Jackie replied, patting him on the shoulder. "Which is why we all try to stay on her good side, and I'd advise you to do the same."

"You don't have to worry about that."

"Good."

The music resumed, much to Alvin's disappointment, and the atmosphere became warm and bubbly again with conversation, laughter, and cheers. At least the music was drowned out by the talk of the patrons and bartenders. Alvin was just sick and tired of having to listen to the same old songs over and over and over again. He guessed that he'd listen to every song on the jukebox enough times to memorize every lyric. Sometimes at night, he caught himself mumbling the lyrics to the songs to himself, which would drive him crazy since it meant that he couldn't get any sleep. It was maddening! When he'd asked Lil whether or not they could try different types of music or artists, she'd replied, "Hey, if you don't like it, you can get the fuck out of my bar." He'd shut up about it then because he loved working with Lil and the others at the Coyote Ugly Saloon.

The salary at the Coyote Ugly Saloon was good enough to where Alvin could afford to live on his own, though Tom and Nathan still helped him out with the bills and the other necessities that he needed in order to survive, such as food, drinks, and so on and so forth. They allowed him to do his laundry at their place, saving him a trip down to the laundromat where he would have undoubtedly spent more than a dollar per load. More often than not, they allowed him to eat over at their place since he wasn't the best cook, and Rita had gotten comfortable enough around him to where he could sleep in the same bed as her. However, she'd warned him about trying anything frisky with her. If he tried anything, she would immediately kick him out of the bed and lock him out of her bedroom, no questions asked.

Even when not at the Coyote Ugly Saloon, Rita was a heavy drinker. She drank at home just as much as she drank at the bar. Tom and Nathan would have preferred her drinking at home or the bar, where they knew that she was safe, than where they didn't know whether or not she was safe. Food and alcohol were like drugs to her. Though she was fine, she binged on food and alcohol like there was no tomorrow. Alvin guessed that her addictions to food and alcohol tied into her crappy childhood, but he didn't press the matter. At the very least, alcohol seemed to calm her down to a point where she wasn't as bitchy as she was when she was sober, and she seemed to open up more emotionally-wise when she was in a drunken stupor. It was during these times that she herself would attempt to get frisky with Alvin, even though he resisted her advances, as hard as it was at times, especially with a tail as gorgeous as hers.

Alvin felt like he was on top of the world while living in Vancouver, British Columbia. He had a great job, great friends, and a decent residence, not to mention something of a girlfriend in Rita Landow. Sadly, however, his entire world came crashing down when he entered the Coyote Ugly Saloon with Tom, Nathan, and Rita one night and saw Jackie, Jessie, Lil, Dawn, Chris, and Molly all waiting for him.

"Is it true?" Molly asked.

Alvin blinked. "Is what true?"

Instead of answering him, Chris walked over to him and handed him a newspaper. "Turn to page 2A," she told him.

He did just that and spotted a news article regarding him and his running away from home.

"Is it true?" Molly repeated. "Who are you?"

Alvin looked to the two foxes and the bunny by his side, who only gave him a nod. He sighed and nodded his head. "It's true."

"So you're not twenty-three?" Lil asked.

"No."

"You're only fifteen?" Dawn inquired.

"Yes."

"Which means I hired a minor based on false information?" Lil asked.

"Yes."

Lil bit her lip as she took a few steps towards him. "Do you realize the amount of trouble I could get in for this?"

"Now don't jump all over him," Tom said. "The truth is, this is my fault."

Lil looked at him. "How?"

"Me, Nathan, and Rita all knew about this whole thing. He told me he was looking for a job, so I told him that you were hiring."

Lil's mouth hung open for a moment or two before she closed it and glared at the four of them. "You three," she pointed to Alvin, Tom, and Nathan, "are fired! And you," she pointed at Rita, "are never allowed in my bar again. Got it?"

Rita nodded her head. "Yes, ma'am."

"Now," Lil said, "get the fuck out of my bar before I report your asses to the police. As for you," she pointed at Alvin, "I suppose I should alert the police anyway to let your family know you're here."

Alvin swallowed, but otherwise said nothing. He sighed along with the others and walked outside the bar back to Tom's car. Without a word, he got in the backseat with Rita and buckled his seat belt. "Sorry, guys."

Tom shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Alvin. I'm sure we'll be able to find work somewhere else." He shifted into reverse and backed out of the parking space.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I sincerely apologize for the tardiness regarding this chapter. I have been dealing with some cyberbullies as of late. Hence, why this chapter is so late. I'm not going to name names out of respect, but the guilty parties know who they are. If you would like more information on this, feel free to leave me a PM. Genicise1275 can also give you a good amount of information regarding this as well. Let's just say some people were bored, so they thought they'd get together and spread a bunch of rumors and lies about me. This is cyberbullying at its finest, people. I have reported them to my local police department. We'll see what happens. So if you want anyone to blame for this story not being updated in nearly a month, you can blame these people. You can also blame them for me having to ONCE AGAIN reupload all of my old stories, as well as why I haven't been active on here for nearly a month. Anyway, on to the chapter! :) **

Chapter 5

"Are you mad?" Alvin looked at the female fox hopefully.

Rita continued to stare at the floor, holding her wine glass in her paw. Rearing back her head, she downed the glass, smacking her lips and letting out a low moan as the taste lingered on her tongue. She sighed and finally looked over at him. "Not as mad as I thought I'd be. Hmm, I guess after being lied to your whole life, you kind of get used to it. So, I'm willing to give you a second chance. If my brother and his boyfriend can forgive you and continue to help you out with your bills, I suppose so can I."

He grinned. "Great." He thought for a moment. "We're all going to need to get new jobs, though."

She nodded her head. "Shouldn't be too hard. After all, we're all quite respected as bartenders. Most of the guys came in there just to hit on us, but we put up with it because we didn't want a lawsuit." She poured herself another glass of wine and downed it in one shot.

He playfully ruffled the fur on her head. "Anyway, I'm hungry. How 'bout you?"

"Ugh. Starving. Let's go get something to eat, huh?"

"Uh . . . that's going to be a problem. I'm not really that great at cooking."

"Whoever said we'd be cooking the food ourselves?" She lifted his wallet and waved it in front of his face, smiling at him.

* * *

If Rita was respected as a bartender, then she should have been respected as an eater as well, at least according to Alvin. The two of them sat in a booth (Rita was somewhat wedged between the table and the backrest of her seat due to the size of her stomach). The restaurant was having a challenge tonight: eat twenty bowls of soup and the meal was free. Rita already had twelve bowls down and only had eight more to go. Alvin sat across from her, watching in both awe and admiration. Her gluttony was big enough to rival even Theodore and Elanor's. He couldn't help but think that, had Erik still been alive, it would be interesting to see the two of them going at it in an eating contest. He was so fixated on the red fox gorging herself on soup that he'd nearly cut his hand multiple times already while trying to cut his steak. Her stomach continued to grow larger and larger, as if it was a bottomless pit. Either that or Rita's appetite was a bottomless pit.

Alvin finally gave up trying to cut up his steak and instead decided to sit back and watch the show in front of him. He leaned against his backrest, sipping his drink while he watched Rita down yet another bowl of soup in less than a minute before attacking the next bowl in line. He was certain that the two of them, or more so Rita herself, were attracting a crowd of onlookers, but Rita, and Alvin himself, couldn't care less. The two of them seemed to simply enjoy each other's company.

Once the final bowl of soup was consumed, she eyed his plate of steak and fries and glanced up at him. "Are you going to eat that?"

He chuckled and pushed his food over to her. "Just go nuts."

"Great." Without the slightest hesitation, she began shoveling fries into her mouth, swelling her cheeks up until she finally swallowed, washing them down with a swig from her bottle of vodka. Being underage, of course Alvin had gotten a root beer.

He watched her with the utmost amusement, surprised and also kind of shocked that she could eat as much as she could. If Erik were alive, the two of them would surely have gotten along, if not for her fierce temper. Alvin and Rita had had their share of arguments, sure, both thinking that they were right and the other wrong. These arguments escalated to the point where she was pointing a sharp claw at his throat, threatening to cut him. At one point, he had actually retaliated and had attempted to cut her as well with a butcher knife. To his surprise, and disturbance, she had actually taken the blade of the knife and just slightly cut along the length of her throat. It wasn't a deep cut, but it was deep enough to draw blood. She made the claim that if he was going to threaten her with a knife, he might as well cut her a little. What was really disturbing was the fact that she seemed to get some sort of enjoyment out of the act, as if she'd gone through the experience of being cut once before. He wasn't about to bring it up, though, especially not in the middle of dinner. Given her short temper, he still wasn't sure what exactly would set her off into a rage.

After devouring his fries, she attacked the steak with her cute little fangs. The A1 steak sauce looked very much like black blood as it dripped from her mouth onto her distended belly. He was quite taken aback at how thrilled he was getting at how big and round her stomach was. Really, it didn't make any sense given that he'd seen Theodore and Eleanor act this way multiple times. Why was it different this time? Could it be that he was in love with her? It was possible, given how often they fought.

Once she was finally done, she leaned back in her seat, patting and rubbing her belly. She let out a contented sigh while her tail swayed back and forth. She looked over at him and grinned. "Well," she said, stretching, "that was fun. How about some dessert? I'm in the mood for," she thought a moment, "ice cream. How about you?"

He simply blinked, amazed that she was still hungry after eating all of that.

* * *

"So?" Simon asked as Theodore and Eleanor entered the Seville household, "what did you find out?" He turned to face them.

"Well," Eleanor said, "we checked all of the passengers on all the flights headed to Vancouver with the last name Seville over the last month. Only one came up."

"So, Alvin is in Vancouver?" Simon questioned.

"We think so," Theodore replied.

"Just to be sure," Simon picked up the phone, "I'm going to call Colin and have him and the others keep an eye out for him until we can get up there ourselves and look for him."

"Any ideas as to why he ran away?" Eleanor asked.

Simon shook his head while the phone rang. "Can't think of any, really, other than the fact that he was tired of the workload that he was under."

Theodore wasn't convinced. "No, that can't be it. Alvin wouldn't run away just over that. It has to be something else."

"Maybe," Simon agreed, nodding his head. He lifted a finger as someone picked up on the other line. "Hello, Colin? This is Simon. Listen, long story short, Alvin's being a jackass and he ran away. We think he might be in Vancouver. He's not with you, is he? Hmm, I didn't think so. Well, if you do happen to see him, let us know straight away. You got me? Great. I'll talk to you soon." He set the phone on the receiver and stood up, grabbing his jacket from the coat rack. While putting it on he said, "Just in case he didn't run off to Vancouver, I think we should keep looking around here in Los Angeles. Maybe the neighbors have seen him." He motioned for the other two to follow him. "Come on, let's go."

Theodore and Eleanor followed him out the front door. They headed across the street to the Cuthberts' home, a family of rabbits that they'd met and become acquainted with over the past month. The family consisted of a happily married couple who had at least six children–three boys and three girls, each one of them different from one another, both in appearance and personality. Despite that they had only known the rabbits for a month, the Sevilles and Millers still thought that maybe they'd spotted Alvin on their frequent visits to the park, school, or to the grocery store.

Serena Cuthbert, the mother of the six rabbit children, answered the door once there was a series of knocks.

"My idiot brother Alvin ran away from home," Simon said. "He's not with you, is he?"

Serena shook her head. "No, he isn't."

"And you haven't seen him, have you?"

"No." She paused for a moment, then turned to her kids. "Hey, guys, would you hate running out with me?"

"Nope," one rabbit, JC, replied. He promptly walked over to his mother's side, along with his siblings. "Any excuse to get away from schoolwork is a good excuse. Let's go!"

"We'll take the Yukon," Saul suggested to his wife, wrapping an arm around her. He nodded to Simon. "You guys can follow us, that being if you have someone to drive you. Sorry, but the Yukon only seats eight."

Simon returned the nod with one of his own. "Of course."

Saul smiled. "Great. We'll just wait for you here."

Simon looked at Eleanor. "Miss Miller is home, isn't she?"

"She is," Eleanor replied as they walked down the sidewalk, "but she may be taking a nap."

"Well, she's about to receive a rude awakening."

"You're sure that's a good idea?" Theodore questioned.

"It's either that or we can be cramped inside a crowded Yukon."

"He does have a point," Eleanor said to Theodore.

Theodore nodded in agreement.

* * *

Saul and Serena were able to keep in touch with Simon via CB radio. They automatically ruled out the library, the school, or anything education-related, knowing full well that Alvin wouldn't be there. Their first targets were the mall, followed by the arcade, the park, and, just to be safe, any bars that they could find. Alvin being the conniving chipmunk that he was would more than likely have a fake ID on his person. Saul and Serena would be the ones to go in the bars to look for Alvin. For one thing, all of the kids were underage. Secondly, Miss Miller wouldn't be caught dead in a bar. Neither would Saul and Serena, given that they were Christians, but they wouldn't be in the bar for very long at all. At the most, they would only be in the bar for two minutes, and that was long enough to ask any of the bartenders if they'd come across a mutated human-chipmunk hybrid with a red baseball cap and a smug smirk on his face.

By the time it came to checking out the bars, it was rather late, so they didn't bother checking every bar within the city. They hit a couple of bars, but none of the bartenders had seen the chipmunk even when presented with a photograph. At one point, a couple of patrons had attempted to hit on Serena and thus, a fight between them and Saul had ensued with the two of them just barely making it out of the bar with their ears still attached to their heads.

It was a valiant effort, but at the end of the day, they came up empty-handed. They returned to their homes, the Sevilles and Millers thanking the Cuthberts for their help and the Cuthberts promising that they'd call as soon as they heard any word on Alvin's whereabouts. Dejected, they went their separate ways after that, Miss Miller taking her girls home and Simon and Theodore heading up to their bedroom to get ready for bed.

It wasn't surprising that the two of them had a hard time getting to sleep. They had gone through many a restless night, thinking and worrying about Alvin's safety and where he might be now. Theodore and Eleanor had seemed sure that Alvin was in Vancouver. It did make sense, considering that was where the family he'd hurt was. There was no guarantee that Alvin would go all the way to Vancouver just to apologize to them, especially considering the fact that they'd stayed in Los Angeles for at least a week before heading back to their hometown. That was more than enough time for Alvin to make an apology. According to Colin, the chipmunk had done just that before disappearing from the face of Los Angeles and was now only God knew where.

Dave had been quite persistent in his pursuit of his lost son, getting the media involved and anyone else who would listen. So far, no one had come up with any results, much to the family's dismay. Surprisingly, the media had been quite helpful in their pursuit of Alvin. The news of his disappearance had spread across the country and to the northern and southern countries. While there was little doubt that Alvin was anywhere near Mexico, given that neither one of them could speak a word of Spanish, it was still a possibility. They weren't ruling out any possibilities.

* * *

Rita sighed happily as she waddled her way towards the front door, her belly swaying back and forth. Alvin was behind her, getting a very nice view of her massive rump and her tail. "That was fun. I had fun." She turned her head to look back at him. "How about you?"

He nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, I had fun too." When he saw that she was going to make her way through the doggy door, he quickly stopped her. "Uh, that doesn't seem like such a good idea."

She chuckled and gave her butt a loving pat. "Heh. Butt this big, it's bound to get stuck. Eh, don't worry about it. You can always push me through." She giggled to herself and went on towards the doggy door. Her tail brushed up against his face and he couldn't help but notice that her tail had a pleasant scent to it.

The front door suddenly opened and Tom's eyes fell on them. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no," he muttered, shaking his head. He set his can of soda down on the table beside him and, grunting, picked her up and set her inside the house. "I am not pushing your big ass through that doggy door again."

"Oh, stop it, Tom," she said. "Don't act like you don't enjoy it." She wiggled her rump and her tail did a swish. "Do we have any ice cream?" She made a mad dash to the kitchen.

"You had what was left of it for lunch," Tom reminded her as Alvin walked in.

She frowned. "Oh, yeah. Well, what about peanut butter and jelly? Do we have any Smucker's?" She began searching through the cabinets.

"Yes, but I wouldn't touch it," Tom advised.

His sister looked up at him. "Why not?"

"It's been on my penis," Nathan called from the living room.

Rita visibly cringed at this new information. "Throw it out," she ordered Tom.

"Honestly, I don't see how you can still be hungry after eating twenty bowls of soup and a steak with a side of fries," Alvin remarked as he sat down at the table.

"You were the one who was offering 'em to me!"

"Hey, it was your decision to eat 'em!"

"Enough," Tom barked. "God . . . you guys. . . . Can't you guys get along for two minutes? I swear, you're like a married couple."

"Blame her," Alvin accused, pointing at the portly fox. "She's got anger issues."

Rita sputtered her lips. "Oh, please. Read your Bible. God's got a hell of a temper."

"Which is exactly why my brother Simon can't stand him." The chipmunk chuckled. "Hates God with a passion."

She smirked, crossing her arms over her distended belly. "It's funny. You ran away from home, yet you talk about your family all the time. What gives?"

He shrugged. "I don't know."

Tom himself smirked and he coiled his tail around Alvin's neck. "Aw, you miss them, don't you?"

"Pfft," Alvin said, gently shoving Tom's tail away. "As if."

"Well, I have good news for all of us," Tom replied, clapping his paws together and smiling gleefully. "I managed to find work for us."

Alvin smiled. "Great. What are we doing?"

"A buddy of mine owns a vineyard and he agreed to hire us."

"You don't have to be twenty-one for this, do you?" Alvin inquired.

Tom shook his head. "No. All we're doing is making wine."

"If that's the case, then are we going to be getting paid with cash or wine?" Rita asked.

"Cash," Tom replied.

"Damn!"

He chuckled. "Relax, Rita. I told him your love for alcoholic beverages, so you'll be paid in both cash and wine."

She grinned. "Great."

"Just try to control yourself."

She frowned.

"You're all expected to get up at five-thirty and you'll be working until three-thirty," Tom added.

"What kind of work will we be doing?" Alvin asked.

"He said that he'd explain when we all get there."

Alvin groaned. "Do we really have to get up at five-thirty in the morning?"

"Yes," Tom barked. "So, I want all of you to get in bed early tonight." He nodded towards Rita. "No heavy drinking or late-night snacking." He nodded towards Nathan. "No whacking it or trying to get laid." He nodded towards Alvin. "And no . . . no doing whatever the hell it is that you do at night."

Alvin saluted. "Aye, aye, captain."

Tom gave him an amused look and saluted him back. "At ease, soldier."

Alvin smiled and lowered his hand. "What would be the best time to go to bed?"

"I'd say eight-thirty. This way, you get at least nine hours of sleep."

Alvin nodded. "Sounds doable."

* * *

Alvin let out a yawn. Despite getting nine hours of sleep, he was still somewhat tired. Maybe it was just because he wasn't used to getting up so early. Or, it could be that the sun hadn't yet risen. At the very least, he and the others were permitted to have some coffee before heading out to the vineyard. It was a long drive from the Landow house to the vineyard, but they eventually made it. They were a little bit late, but hopefully their boss wouldn't have a problem with this.

They met the owner of the vineyard. He was a tanned man with a gray mustache and hair that was slowly but surely turning white. He wore a white short-sleeve button-down shirt. His beer gut hung over his belt that held up his dark blue pants. There was a continuous clop when he walked as his boots made an impact with the wooden boards of the porch. He held a mug of coffee in his hand, his other stuffed into his pocket. He took a sip of his coffee before looking over the four volunteers. He swallowed and finally spoke. "All right, listen up. Since none of you have ever worked on a vineyard before, this just might be the hardest you've worked in your life. I will not tolerate slackers, whiners, or complainers. I hope you have on a good pair of boots, otherwise you're going to end up with a couple of broken toenails."

Alvin swallowed as he looked down at his plain tennis shoes.

"Some of you," the man went on, "will be responsible for gathering grapes and delivering them for inspection. The rest of you will be inspecting the grapes and getting rid of any leaves or other foreign objects before they are shipped off for sorting. Is that clear?"

The group nodded their heads

"Great," the man said. "My name is Octavio. When you speak to me, you will call me by my name. Is that clear?" He watched the group give him an approving nod. "Okay, good so far. Now, then, let's see what we've got to work with." He stepped down from the porch and inspected them. He didn't even need to so much as look Rita over to decide what she would be doing. "You will be gathering grapes and delivering them for inspection." He patted her distended stomach. "Some exercise will be good for you."

Rita put her paws on her fat hips and glared at him. "Hey!"

Octavio ignored her and moved on to Tom and Nathan. "You two will be inspecting the grapes. You are to remove any leaves or anything else that doesn't belong." He finally came to Alvin and smiled. "You look like you're an athlete. Therefore, you should have no problem with gathering grapes and delivering them." He turned and pointed to a table nearby. "Those of you who will be gathering grapes are to take your buckets and dump the grapes in those bins over there. The sunlight will help those of you who are inspecting them. Are we all clear?" He grinned when they nodded. "Great. Get to it."

With Rita, Alvin began walking amongst the vineyard. It was still somewhat dark out, so it was a little hard to see exactly what they were doing. They began filling their buckets with grapes, gingerly peeling them off the vines. They weren't exactly sure how long it would take to get all of the grapes in the vineyard. Both of them doubted that they would have them all by the end of the day. With only ten hours of work and so many grapes to deliver, there was no way that it could be done. Rita seemed to be having a better time of seeing than Alvin, given that she was a fox and therefore, had better eyesight, even with little light. Looking closely at them, he noticed that they were shining, probably because her pupils had dilated so that her eyes picked up as much light as possible. Funnily enough, this seemed to make her eyes seem even more like sapphires.

The buckets were quite deep, so it took them over an hour to completely fill them. Once this was done, they trudged up the hill towards Tom and Nathan, deposited their grapes in the bins, then went back down the hill to retrieve more grapes. They'd only been working for a little over two hours and already Alvin's feet were starting to hurt. Two hours down, eight more to go.

* * *

They were thankfully given a break around lunchtime. They had at least an hour for lunch. Honestly, that wasn't nearly enough time, as it was a forty-five-minute drive back to town. Ordering pizza was out of the question as there was no telling how long it would take for the pizza to be delivered. To their surprise, Octavio invited them inside for lunch.

The house was air conditioned, thankfully. Nonetheless, that didn't stop them from going to the kitchen and getting something to drink from the fridge. Unfortunately, he didn't have any soda of any kind. The most he had was either milk or water. To Alvin's surprise, his friends chose milk over water. He didn't think anything of it and decided to go ahead and get some water.

Lunch wasn't all that appetizing. Basically all they had were a couple of sandwiches and a few potato chips. Needless to say, milk and water didn't exactly go well with sandwiches and chips.

* * *

"You're sure he's in Vancouver?" Simon asked Theodore.

Theodore shrugged. "Can't imagine he'd be anywhere else."

The older chipmunk sighed. "Goddamn it, I hope you're right, Theodore."

Theodore looked over his shoulder at the group behind them, then turned back to Simon. "Is it really necessary that we have fifteen people for this trip? All we're doing is going up to Vancouver to get Alvin and go right back home."

"They wanted to come," Simon countered, "and, besides, they did pay for their own tickets, so it's not like it's costing anybody anything. At the most, we'll be in Vancouver for a couple of days before arriving back home." He leaned back into his chair and began reading an article in the magazine he held in his hands.

Theodore wasn't done asking questions yet. "But what about where we're staying?"

"What about it? Each family paid for their own room. Why is that a problem?" He turned a page in his magazine. "Each family will pay for their own expenses, such as food and what have you. Besides, with more people, that means we'll have more ground to cover."

"You don't suppose he's living with anyone, do you?"

"He has to be. He couldn't be living on his own. Goodness knows that Alvin's not very bright."

Theodore chuckled and leaned across Simon's lap to look out the window. "We should be landing soon." He sat back in his seat.

"Well," Simon said, "in the meantime, why not enjoy the in-flight movie, huh?"

Theodore looked up towards the screen in front of him, but immediately groaned upon seeing the title: _Cheaper by the Dozen_. "Ugh. Forget it. I think I'll just sleep the rest of the way."

* * *

"So, how was your first day?" Tom asked Alvin on the drive back home.

Alvin groaned and the others laughed. "I've never worked so hard."

"I'd be willing to bet that you haven't worked a day in your life, Alvin," Tom replied.

"Well," Alvin said, "you'd be somewhat right about that, if you don't call being a musician working."

Tom fell silent. He looked in his rear-view mirror at his younger sister, who was watching the scenery pass them by. "Rita, what about you? How was your first day?"

"My feet are killing me," she replied without lifting her gaze. "You guys had it easy."

"Oh, don't give me that bullshit," Nathan remarked. "We were working just as hard as you guys were." He cringed as he dug a thorn out of his paw and tossed it out the window. "Do you know how many thorns I got stuck in me? I had to dig a few leaves out of Tom's fur."

"Relax," Tom said. "We'll get home, get cleaned up, have something to eat, and then it's off to bed."

"A hot bath and a cozy bed sound lovely right now," Alvin agreed, nodding his head. "But, I have to admit that it wasn't as bad as the time I had Pinkie Pie as my next-door neighbor. . . ."

* * *

Pinkie Pie sang happily as she bounced about her apartment.

"I hanker for a hunk of  
A slab or slice or chunk of  
I hanker for a hunk of cheese  
When your get-up-and-go has got up and went–"

There was a knock at the door. She smiled upon seeing a chipmunk in a red sweater standing on her doorstep. "Hello, there!"

"Pardon me, ma'am," Alvin said. "I live next door. It is three-thirty in the morning. I am very tired."

"Look–a wagon wheel." She held up a wheel made out of cheese.

"God, what the hell is your problem?!"

"I just smoked a whole bunch of crack!"

* * *

"Why don't we, uh, take a shower together?" Rita asked Alvin. She got down on all fours and allowed her tail to stroke his face. She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled.

He gently took her tail and moved it aside. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were hitting on me."

"Well, take that as a compliment." She got up and patted his cheek. "That just means I like you. Come on, we'll save time if we do."

He sighed and nodded his head in agreement. "All right, fine."

She grinned and pecked him on the cheek. "Great! I'll get the water ready. You go ahead and get dressed. Just don't feel self-conscious if I'm watching." She giggled and went over to the tub while he began to get ready for his shower.


End file.
